


Percy Weasley

by freyjawriter24



Series: The Weasleys [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Percy's journey, from innocent 8 year old, to estranged adult, to reunited with his family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 06:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7348003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freyjawriter24/pseuds/freyjawriter24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy's personal journey - why he left his family and reunited with them again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Percy Weasley

The only time Bill ever really acted out was in his third year.

The First Wizarding War was over, but by then Bill had six siblings – his mother was struggling to cope with toddlers Ron and Ginny; the twins, who were already making trouble aged six, weren't helping; and then there was her secret favourite, quiet little Percy. Charlie and Bill were always the closest to each other, in age and in friendship, but since the death of their uncles Fabian and Gideon, Charlie had become increasingly distant, preferring to stay in his room at home reading the books they’d given him on dragons, and talking to the Care of Magical Creatures professor while at school. As such Bill, always the eldest, always the one who was expected to be grown up, felt increasingly under pressure to succeed at school, help his parents at home, and be a model to his younger siblings. Molly tried her best, but Bill always seemed to feel left out.

This was part of the reason (aside from the endlessly tedious lessons of Professor Binns) that Bill attempted to put a charm on his quill during History of Magic, to write and replicate his notes for him and give him top marks. The ghostly professor, of course, didn't notice, although some other class members did. Unfortunately, it was the students’ loud whisperings, begging him to reproduce the spell on their quills, which alerted Binns to the cheating. Bill was taken to Professor McGonagall, as his head of house, and a letter was swiftly sent home to Molly.

With most of her children still not yet at school, Molly was under immense pressure to keep her family safe and under control. The older boys wanted to play on broomsticks outside, and couldn’t control their random outbursts of magic. She was constantly running after the younger two and telling off the twins, while still trying to cook and clean and look after their home. She lived in fear that something might happen to them that she couldn’t stop.

Molly remained paranoid about dark magic after the loss of her brothers in the war, and so often declined help from friends and family to look after the children, fearing the Imperious Curse. So when she received McGonagall's letter, she was furious with Bill for adding more stress to her life.

She immediately made a howler to send back to Hogwarts with the owl that had delivered the letter, not waiting for her husband to get home from the Ministry so they could talk it over. The howler contained much of Molly's pent-up anger and worry, and was in fact the first time she had ever properly yelled at any of her children.

Percy was the only one who witnessed the impact of McGonagall’s letter on his mother and her creation of the howler. He was stood in the doorway, watching, the others laughing and playing outside. Molly was unaware of his presence, but Percy, aged eight, took his mother's reaction to heart. Already a good child, and his mother's secret favourite, from that day he promised himself to be always perfect in her eyes, to work hard to succeed at everything he did, and thus avoid incurring the same wrath on himself.

Percy never saw the three-page long reconciliation letter Molly wrote and sent Bill the following day. He did not associate the extra-long end-of-term hug his mother gave Bill at Kings Cross with the events of that afternoon. But what he did notice was that Bill very rarely played up again.

Percy constantly strove to be the best at everything, from lessons to housework to Molly's favourite pastime of cooking. Gradually, this desire diverged from its origin with his mother, and Percy became increasingly pompous, arrogant, and ambitious. Molly was delighted with his Prefect and Head Boy appointments, as she had been at Bill and Charlie's, but Percy unconsciously took this as a sign of his mother's approval of his drive for higher status.

This was the root of his career plan, to join and rise through the ranks of the Ministry of Magic, aiming to become Minister for Magic himself. But his position made him unkind, and he began thinking bad things of his family, placing more emphasis on his pureblood status, smirking at the snide remarks made about his father, and feeling pleased when people were surprised that he and Arthur were related. He’d been drifting away from his family for years, but from the time he left Hogwarts, the gradual alienation became tangible. His mother was heart-broken.

Percy was not made to be a leader, but was an excellent follower. He followed orders at work, followed a strict career progression, followed political affairs closely, and followed others through the ranks of the Ministry. He followed Fudge’s beliefs that Voldemort could not possibly have returned. He followed the Minister’s views that his brother’s little friend, Harry Potter, was somewhat delusional, or a pathological liar, and possibly dangerous himself. After all, Percy had personally witnessed some of Potter’s reckless actions, and knew his youngest brother had been drawn into more than one serious situation by the so-called Chosen One.

When the Second Wizarding War came, and Voldemort was proven to be at large and amassing his forces, Percy went through a short period of rapid self-re-evaluation. He remembered his attempts to be the best in his mother's eyes, and regretted their estrangement. He understood how his ambition had blurred his judgement, how he had hurt his parents and siblings. He realised the futility of working in a destabilised and corrupted Ministry, and decided to put family before career for the first time in his life.

Thus, at the beginning of May 1998, he joined the forces of his old school and the Order of the Phoenix at the Battle of Hogwarts.

There he hugged his mother, fought alongside his brothers, and finally proved his bravery, seen deep down by the Sorting Hat all those years ago.

It was also there that he witnessed the sudden and shocking death of his younger brother Fred, in the very process of their reconciliation. It was there that he cried the first real heavy tears of loss in that war, that he realised it was still too little too late.

It was there that Percy learned the true importance of family, learned the depth of that connection, and learned to hold onto it, tight. That lesson stayed with him for the rest of his life.

After the war, he returned to the Ministry, but averted his ambition from the post of Minister for Magic. Instead, he joined the Department of Magical Transportation, allowing him to spend more time at home. He made friends, not just acquaintances. He went to department parties, visited his family for birthdays and Christmas, encouraged and helped new Ministry recruits.

He married a work colleague, Audrey, who was quickly accepted into the family. She melded well with the Weasleys, becoming friendly with all of them. Molly cooked and baked with her, exchanging techniques and recipes. Percy told her stories of his brother Fred. Ron told her stories about what Percy was like at school. George made jokes about how Percy once wanted to be Minister for Magic, and Percy responded with laughs instead of frowns.

Molly was there whenever Percy needed her. She was there for every awkward promotion, when Percy wavered over his past ambitions; she stood proudly by the aisle on his wedding day, smiling and crying the whole time; and she came running when he called her via the Floo on a stormy night to say that Audrey was in labour.

It was many hours later that Audrey finally delivered their first child into the world. Percy cried and held his wife and new daughter, then gently passed the baby to his mother, whispering gently the name that identified them both. All four pairs of eyes were filled with tears; of happiness, relief, discomfort, and new beginnings.

Together, Percy and Audrey named their first child, a girl with the same bright brown eyes as her grandmother, who embodied their definition of family and love, after the woman who meant so much to them both.

Molly.


End file.
